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Historic Perspectives on Law & Science

Law has had a long and troubled relationship with science. The misuse of science within the legal realm, as well as our failed attempts to make law more scientific, are well documented. The cause of these problems, however, is less clear. With this in mind, I would like to suggest that the unsatisfying relationship of law and science can be attributed, at least in part, to law’s inadequate understanding of what constitutes science and law’s inflated view of the potential benefits of science for law.

The article begins by describing law’s vision of science. It then traces the history of Western philosophical thought on what constitutes science in an effort to demonstrate for a legal audience how modern philosophical views of science contrast sharply with perspectives in law. Finally, the article explores the nature of law and describes distortions in our image of what science can do for law. In particular, while most people would argue that the changing nature of science creates problems for law, this article suggests that it is the constantly evolving nature of law that makes science such a bad fit for the development of legal doctrines.

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Keywords: law and society, Law & Society, history, law and science, law & Science, intellectual property, patent, copyright, trademark